Tight battle in three divisions for coveted YOG qualifier spots

2018 Youth Olympic Games Qualifier - "The Americas"

Cabarete, Dominican Republic

Contestants from around the world rocked the Cabarete beaches again today in what was another exciting and successful day of Youth Olympic Trials. The weather did not disappoint - it was a beautiful sunny day.

Racing kicked off at 3:30 this afternoon local time. Riders brought their A game, causing shifts in the rankings in the North American/Caribbean boys division as Lorenzo Calcano of the Dominican Republic knocked Jacob Olivier and Cameron Maramenides, both of the U.S.A. into a tie for third respectively, while Tiger Tyson maintained his firm grip on first place.

On the girls' side Lou Marin held confidently onto the top spot with her consistently strong performance the first day continuing. Paula Herrmann and Faviola Collazo-Velez maintained their second and third place spots, showing everyone they have what it takes to compete at this level.

In the South American boys' division, Argentina's Geronimo Lutteral held on to the top spot for the second day in a row as he had another stellar day of racing with multiple first place finishes giving him a strong hold on first place going into the final hours of competition.

His fellow Argentinian teammate, Martin Errazquin-Calderon made a big jump in the rankings from fifth place at the end of Wednesday to second place as we wrapped up competition this Thursday. This resulted in Anthar Racca of Mexico and Adalberto Gomez of Mexico dropping to third and fourth places.

The South American girls had some of the most intense heats of the groups, staying within meters of each other in all of today's races, but never overtaking - leaving Wednesday's rankings intact.

Competitors will have another chance to improve their scores and work their way up the leaderboard tomorrow as the finalists, those who will be able to refer to themselves as Olympic athletes, emerge. We've already seen many shifts in rankings so it is entirely possible there could be more jockey-ing for the top spots to come, and more exciting outcomes for these young riders. Tomorrow is another day of kiting in Cabarete, Dominican Republic, and especially on this day, anything is possible.